[18]
“Also
in the same manner,” it says in the second clause, “as in the comitia for
the election of a Pontifex Maximus.” He did not perceive even this, that our
ancestors did really study the good of the people so much, that, though it was not lawful for
that office to be conferred by the people, on account of the religious ceremonies then used,
still, they chose, in order to do additional honour to the priesthood, that the sanction of
the people should be asked for it. And Cnaeus Domitius, a tribune of the people, and a most
eminent man, passed the same law with respect to the other priesthoods; enacting, because the
people, on account of the requirements of religion, could not confer the priesthoods, that a
small half of the people should be invited; and that whoever was selected by that half should
be chosen into their body by the sacred college.
M. Tullius Cicero. The Orations of Marcus Tullius Cicero, literally translated by C. D. Yonge, B. A. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1856.
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